This is the public policy forum of Minneapolis Second Ward (Green) City Council Member Cam Gordon and his staff. We use this space to talk about some of what Cam’s working on, explain his positions, and share a little of what life in City Hall is like. Please feel free to comment on posts, within certain ground rules. See our disclaimer, including ground rules, here: http://secondward.blogspot.com/2006/05/disclaimer.html#links

Monday, September 27, 2010

FBI Raids Minneapolis Peace Activists

I stand with the peace and justice activists whose homes were raided last week by the FBI, and who will be required to testify in court about their travels to parts of the world that continue to be wracked by violence and injustice. At least one of the victims of these raids is a Second Ward constituent, and I consider them all important allies in the ongoing struggle for a world in which violence is never seen as a political tool, and in which the rights and dignity of all people are respected.

These raids send an overtly political message likely to discourage people from publicly questioning and criticizing their government, and to deter them from organizing, communicating about and openly opposing policies that they believe are unjust. These kinds of govenment actions that chill the free speech of peace activists and the rights of all of us to freely associate are contradictory to the founding princples of the United States and have the potential to profoundly harm our democracy. The ability of all of us to openly discuss, debate, protest and dissent is essential to our future. As Thomas Jefferson said, "the spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive."

This afternoon, I will attend the protest against the FBI's unwarranted, and likely unjust actions at 4:30pm at the FBI's downtown Minneapolis office, at 111 Washington Avenue South. Please join me.

1 Comments:

Thank you for speaking out in regard to the FBI raids in Minneapolis. As Charley Underwood and others are pointing out, the silence from too many others is deafening.

I hope you will speak out also against the possibility of bringing the DNC to Mpls. Given the recent festivities in St. Paul, it is hard to believe that any responsible person could want a repetition in Mpls.